Coffee Craving
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: Spencer is pregnant and Aria won't let her drink coffee. Emily and Paige come over to help out with things and different sides are taken on the matter. Sparia, Paily, McHastings friendship.


"Come on, come on, come on…" Spencer muttered to herself as she rifled desperately through the cupboards. Coming up empty handed she slammed the cupboard door shut with a frustrated growl. "Damn it…ARIA!" she tilted her head back to glare at the ceiling, "ARIAAAAA!"

Spencer heard the frantic thud of footsteps on the stairs and she glanced towards the doorway in time to see Aria run through it. She crossed her arms and glared at her purposefully.

"What?" Aria was slightly out of breath as she approached Spencer. "What is it? Is something wrong? Is it the baby?"

"No!" Spencer snapped irritably. "Where have you put the coffee?"

"You yelled for me like that because you can't find the coffee?" Aria asked in disbelief. "Seriously Spence? I thought there was something wrong."

"There _is_ something wrong. Where is the coffee Aria?!"

"I threw it all out, remember?" Aria reminded Spencer with a sigh. They'd only been arguing about the topic two days ago. "You can't drink coffee when you're pregnant."

"I can drink coffee if I damn well please…what did you do to the coffee maker?" Spencer motioned to the coffee maker which was clearly missing the coffee pot.

"I smashed it." Aria shrugged sheepishly. "I figured you would find a way to use it."

"_Aria_!"

"You seem stressed." Aria looked concerned as she stepped forward. She placed her hands on Spencer's shoulders and looked her directly in the eye. "Do you want me to give you a massage to help you relax?"

"No, I don't want a massage! I want my damn co…" Spencer trailed off at the sound of the doorbell. She looked towards the doorway in confusion. "Who is that?"

"That'll be Emily and Paige." Aria answered, giving Spencer's shoulders a reassuring rub. "Paige is putting the crib together for us, remember?" she didn't wait for an answer before she released Spencer and walked out of the kitchen to answer the door.

Spencer huffed and glanced at the cupboard that used to contain her coffee.

"This is your fault." She muttered down to her stomach.

"Did you say something?" Aria's voice sounded as she walked back into the room with Paige and Emily hot on her heels. Emily's face lit up when she saw Spencer and she picked up her pace, heading straight for her.

"Emily I love you but if you touch my stomach, talk to the baby or refer to yourself as 'Auntie Emily' I won't be held responsible for my actions."

Emily stopped in her tracks a few feet away from Spencer, a disappointed look on her face.

"Ignore her, she's grumpy." Aria told Emily. She looked to Paige who stepped forward, holding a paper cup which she proceeded to hand to Aria.

"Is that for me?" Spencer asked eagerly.

"Yes." Aria allowed Spencer to take the paper cup from her hand, "But it's not…"

Her warning came too late as Spencer took a long drink from the cup. Spencer froze mid-drink, her eyes widening in horror. Lowering the cup she placed her hand over her mouth and forced herself to swallow the acrid tasting liquid instead of spitting it out. "Aria…"

"It's chamomile tea." Aria explained, forcing a fake cheerfulness into her voice. "I thought it would make an okay replacement for coffee."

"I can't drink this, it tastes like watered down _flowers_!" Spencer slammed the paper cup on the table and glared at Aria as if she'd tricked her into doing something.

"Spencer honey…"

"Don't Spencer honey me, I want my damn coffee!"

"Um…" Paige nervously waved a hand to get everyone's attention. "I'm just going to go upstairs and start on the crib."

"I'll come with you." Spencer stated before anyone else could say anything.

"Okay." Paige agreed nervously. She walked over to Emily and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before speaking in a voice that was loud enough for only Emily to hear. "If I'm not back in half an hour you should come looking for me."

Emily chuckled and shook her head in amusement at her girlfriend's dramatics. "Go on…before Spencer loses her temper."

Paige glanced at Spencer to see that she was standing impatiently in the doorway, obviously waiting for Paige. Paige swallowed heavily and quickly walked towards Spencer so as to avoid being screamed at. Picking her backpack up from near the doorway she waited for Spencer to exit the room only for her to remain exactly where she was, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I…um…excuse me," Paige said nervously as she tried to slide past Spencer, her back glued against the doorway.

Spencer held her ground for a moment before she turned and walked away from the room.

"Chamomile tea." She muttered in disgust as she walked away.

Paige glanced back into the kitchen and received a fake grin from Aria and a slightly concerned look from Emily.

"ARE YOU COMING PAIGE?!"

Paige jumped as the yell reached her ears and she quickly took off after Spencer, taking the stairs two at a time. She reached the nursery in record time and found Spencer waiting for her.

"Paige." Spencer said in a sickly sweet voice as Paige stepped into the room. Paige stopped in her tracks, her expression not dissimilar to a deer caught in headlights. "Could you do something for me please?"

"Uh…sure." Paige answered shiftily. "What do you need?"

"I need you to go the brew, order an extra-large coffee and bring it back to me."

"Oh…I don't know Spencer, I don't think you're allowed to drink coffee in your state."

"In my _state_?" Spencer scowled irritably and advanced a couple of steps. "I'm an adult and I can make my own decisions now go and get me some coffee before I fucking lose it."

"Okay." Paige held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, I'll just say I left a tool I need back home so I have to go and get it."

"Good." Spencer visibly relaxed and gave Paige a small smile. When Paige didn't move it quickly slipped. "What are you waiting for McCullers?"

"Right!" Paige turned and hurried towards the door, if only to get out of Spencer's way. "Pregnant women are freaking terrifying."

"I heard that!"

Half an hour later and Paige was back with Spencer's coffee. She walked into the nursery and found Spencer waiting for her, sitting on the window ledge.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah." Paige eased the coffee out from where she was holding it under her jacket and Spencer's eyes visibly lit up. She rushed forward and took the coffee from Paige, giving her an impromptu one armed hug. Paige's eyes widened in surprise but she gave Spencer's back a nervous pat.

Spencer quickly pulled away and lifted the cup to her lips, not caring at all whether the liquid was too hot to drink. She took a slow swig and found it to be just the right temperature. She moaned softly at the taste she'd been deprived of for the past couple of weeks. "Oh my God, this is amazing…you're a lifesaver Paige."

Paige flushed slightly, not used to Spencer's gratitude. As wrong as it felt that she'd done exactly what Aria and Emily didn't want her to do she couldn't help but be glad that she'd managed to get on Spencer's good side. "No problem."

"Hey you could bring me coffee every day!" Spencer stated suddenly.

"What?" Paige stared at Spencer with wide eyes.

"Or we could meet for coffee every day, Aria would never even know. We can just pretend that we're suddenly friends and you're coming to my…yoga classes with me."

"Wait, _what_?!"

"Aria would never know _what_?" Aria herself spoke as she wandered into the room with Emily.

"Uh…" Paige turned around to face the doorway and stepped back to stand next to Spencer. "T-that I'm slacking off?"

"Paige, you're an awful liar." Emily smiled fondly.

Paige laughed nervously and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.

"Is that…?" Aria motioned towards the paper cup Spencer was holding. "Is that _coffee_?"

Spencer took another sip of the liquid and smirked smugly, "Maybe."

"Spence, that's bad for the baby!" Aria made to move forward to take the coffee from Spencer only for her to move quickly behind Paige.

"Where did you get that?" Aria demanded to know as Spencer continued to drink the coffee as quickly as she possibly could. After all it was only a matter of time before Aria managed to wrangle the coffee away from her. Aria's gaze averted to Paige. "Tell me you didn't go out and buy her coffee when she's _pregnant_ Paige."

"She made me do it!" Paige exclaimed quickly. "Pregnant coffee deprived Spencer is _scary_."

"_Paige_."

Paige cringed at the disappointment she could hear in Emily's voice. "Em, come on…I was just trying to help your friend out. She needed the coffee."

"The baby doesn't need coffee!" Aria stated angrily.

"Coffee in moderation isn't bad for the baby." Paige argued meekly. "I read about a study where a woman drank three cups of coffee a day and there were no effects on the baby."

"Thank you!" Spencer exclaimed victoriously. "That's what I've been saying."

"And I read about a study that showed a doubling of miscarriage when the mother drank two hundred milligrams of coffee a day!" Aria refuted. "That's only two _small_ cups of coffee!"

"Not to mention the fact that too much caffeine cuts down on the blood flow to the placenta." Emily chimed it matter-of-factly, "Which means that she won't get as many nutrients as she would if Spencer didn't drink coffee."

"She?" Aria echoed, shooting Emily a look. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Just a hunch." Emily said with a shake of her head.

"It's one cup of coffee Emily." Paige stated defensively. "One cup of coffee a day isn't going to hurt the baby and Spencer will feel a lot better than she does now."

Spencer nodded supportively.

Emily shook her head. "You're so sleeping on the couch tonight."

"What? Why?" Paige asked, clearly shocked by the revelation. "I didn't do anything."

Emily merely crossed her arms and stared at Paige with an 'are you kidding me?' expression. "You're both putting my future niece at risk. You're sleeping on the couch."

"Don't think you're getting off lightly." Aria frowned as she noted Spencer's smug expression.

"What? You'd make a pregnant woman sleep on the couch?"

"No but _I _can sleep on the couch."

Spencer's grin slipped. "Aria…"

"Come on Emily, let's leave them to it." Aria moved towards the door. With one last shake of her head directed towards Paige and Spencer Emily followed.

"I can't believe that just happened." Paige muttered, staring forlornly after Emily.

Spencer shrugged, finally shifting out from behind her. "They'll get over it." She cast a sidelong look at Paige. "Thanks for taking my side when nobody else did. Even Hanna agrees with them."

Paige shrugged as if it were nothing. "It's fine."

"So about the daily coffee…"

THE END.


End file.
